The devastated family of a young woman killed in a horrific car crash sobbed yesterday as the driver was handed a fine and a driving ban.

Scott Dry was cleared of causing 26-year-old Rachel Scantlebury's death by dangerous driving.

But the jury found him guilty of the lesser offence of careless driving which does not carry a jail sentence.

Rachel's family were left weeping with fury at the verdict as it emerged that Ilkley businessman Dry already had 11 points on his licence for three previous speeding offences at the time of the crash.

Rachel's mother, Gillian Scantlebury, told the T&A afterwards she "hated" Dry and would never forgive him.

She said: "I feel numb. He has basically been let off."

In tears, Rachel's pregnant sister Claire Chapman said she hoped Dry would "rot in hell."

"He just doesn't care," she said.

In July 2004, Dry's speeding two-seater TVR Griffith 500 went out of control and smashed into a tree killing Miss Scantlebury and badly injuring another passenger John Oddy. Miss Scantlebury had been sitting on Mr Oddy's knee at the time.

Yesterday a jury at Bradford Crown Court unanimously found the 42-year-old not guilty of the most serious charge, instead convicting him of careless driving.

Speaking immediately after the verdict, Gillian Scantlebury said: "I hate the man and will never forgive him. He is loathsome.

"He has shown no remorse and is only concerned about himself and not what he has done to John Oddy, how his behaviour has affected us and how he has taken my daughter in his stupidity.

"I'm just devastated by it.

"We were a very close family and she was loved by so many people. Rachel was a very beautiful girl," said Mrs Scantlebury, who had travelled to Bradford with husband Glyn Scantlebury from their home in Spain for the case.

Mr Oddy, who is still on crutches two years after the crash, said: "I'm shattered by the verdict."

Judge Geoffrey Marson QC fined Dry £1500 for careless driving and banned him from driving for a year.

Dry, of Westwood Mount, Ilkley, will also have to pay £500 towards the prosecution costs.

Barrister Andrew Stubbs, for Dry, said there were never any winners in such cases and his client wanted him to repeat the expressions of remorse he had offered during the trial.

Passing sentence Judge Marson told Dry: "It is clear that that night you were driving in excess of the speed limit at a time when you already had three convictions on your licence for exceeding the speed limit.

"Your actions in permitting Rachel to be a passenger in your motor car whilst sitting on Mr Oddy's knee beggars belief.

"It must have been obvious to you that that was an unsatisfactory state of affairs even though you only had to travel a short distance home and it is clear that you were exceeding the speed limit in a residential area.

"It was a road that you had driven before and if you didn't know, you ought well to have known, that the speed limit was 30mph."

Judge Marson noted that the careless driving conviction did not involve any direct criminal responsibility for the consequences of it and it did not carry a sentence of imprisonment.

"But," he said: "your counsel quite properly says there are no winners in a case like this. There are only tragic losers.

"I'm entirely satisfied that the consequences of your actions that night will live with you forever, as indeed they should.

"In assessing the appropriate level of fine I can't stress too strongly that this is not in any way a measure of anyone's life for there can never be such a measure."

Miss Scantlebury, who was to go on a holiday the next day, suffered fatal injuries during the crash at the junction of Princess Road and Queens Road.

During Dry's trial it emerged that Miss Scantlebury, of Parish Ghyll Drive, Ilkley, had been sitting on Mr Oddy's knee when Dry set off on the short journey back to his home.

After the jury returned their verdicts prosecutor Ian Howard revealed that Dry, who was described by his barrister as a successful businessman, had 11 points on his licence for three speeding offences at the time of the fatal crash.

Dry told the court that he believed the road he was using had a 40mph limit when in fact the limit was 30mph.

A police accident investigator had estimated that the TVR may have been doing over 50mph when Dry lost control, but a defence expert had put forward a lower speed.

Miss Scantlebury's mum said her daughter was so popular that more than 600 people attended her funeral.

"She had great faith in everybody and never had a bad word to say about anyone," she added.

Educated at Moorfield School, The Girls' Grammar School, Bradford and Ilkley Grammar, Rachel worked as an account manger for an information technology firm based in Leeds.

She carried out fundraising activities for the Anthony Nolan Bone Marrow Trust, including a parachute jump which raised £2,000.